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News - Archive 2014

The most successful universities connect civic engagement to community building and view communities as assets to be identified, leveraged and developed, Earl Lewis said Monday at the Duke University’s third annual Civic Engagement Distinguished Lecture.

The Trinity College of Arts and Sciences has launched a new initiative focused on the social, political, economic and cultural dimensions of uneven and inequitable access to resources, opportunity and capabilities, said Trinity College Dean Laurie Patton.

“Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime,” says the proverb. Through his nonprofit, Fishing for Families in Need, Lucas Metropulos PPS’15 not only found a way to help kids and families, but the environment too.

In the U.S., couples with daughters are somewhat more likely to divorce than couples with sons. Many scholars have read those numbers as evidence that daughters cause divorce. But new research from Duke University suggests something quite different may be at play: Girls may be hardier than boys, even in the womb, and may be better able to survive pregnancies stressed by a troubled marriage.

It is well documented that children with obese parents are at greater risk for obesity. In a new study, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital, Cornell University, and Duke University looked at how different kinds of family associations affect obesity, specifically how sibling relationships affect a child’s weight. They not only found a correlation between parents and child, but also discovered a link between having an obese sibling and a child’s obesity risk, after adjusting for the parent-child relationship.

The American Political Science Association (APSA) has given Sanford School of Public Policy Assistant Professor Nick Carnes two awards for his book, White-Collar Government: The Hidden Role of Class in Economic Policy Making.

A report on gun violence released today by the office of Congresswoman Robin Kelly (D-IL.) draws heavily upon the research of Sanford School of Public Policy professors Philip J. Cook and Kristin A. Goss.

The Sanford School of Public Policy graduation ceremonies on May 10 recognized the 40th class of public policy majors at Duke. In 1974, the school was called the Institute of Policy Sciences and Public Affairs and its first class numbered seven graduates. This year, 189 students received diplomas and 29, a record number, completed an honors thesis to graduate with distinction.

COL Ronald Clark, Counterterrorism and Public Policy Fellow at the Sanford School, is researching reasons for the dearth of African American senior officers in the U.S. Army Infantry and Armor branches. Calling the imbalance a “tyranny in numbers,” Clark hopes his research can lead to significant reforms.

"I knew that I wanted to learn more about the juvenile justice system, and my thought process was that this was such a complex issue and I had no idea where to start," said Paddock. "So I actually approached the head of the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council (JCPC) in Durham and said, 'If you could put a researcher for free on any question that you guys want to know about right now, what would it be?'"

Public policy major Dominique Beaudry is one of two Duke juniors selected as a 2014 Truman Scholar. With Truman funding, she plans to pursue dual master's degrees in public policy studies and education at Stanford University after completing her undergraduate degree.

Patrick Oathout has explored many areas of interest at Duke: he is a public policy and philosophy double major and art history minor, he has taught English to Libyan, Iraqi and Syrian refugees, he was student body vice president, and he wrote weekly columns on leadership, politics and international affairs for the Duke Chronicle, to name just a few.

Tana Johnson, assistant professor of public policy and political science, contributed to Global Governance 2022 in 2012 and 2013. GG2022 was organized by a consortium including universities, the Robert Bosch Foundation and think tanks such as the Brookings Institution. Young professionals in government, academia, nonprofits and the private sector were selected to use scenario-planning methods to envision how global energy structures might look in 10 years.

Senior public policy major Will Woodhouse has contributed to published research, traveled to Amsterdam and Geneva and gained valuable perspectives on his future profession – all through a two-year partnership with Sanford Professor of the Practice Anthony So.

This week, President Richard H. Brodhead honored five Duke employees with the Presidential Award for outstanding service in 2013. A Presidential Award is one of the highest honors given to Duke faculty and staff and recognizes employees from five work categories who have made distinctive contributions to the university or health system.

The career of Sherman James, Susan B. King Professor of Public Policy, who will retire in June, exemplifies the interdisciplinary scholarship that the Sanford School prizes and nurtures. A psychologist who has worked in departments of medicine and epidemiology, who founded a research center on health and culture, and whose work on health disparities led to his creation of the “John Henryism Hypothesis,” James has worked in many disciplines.

Tunisian journalist and activist Olfa Riahi will donate a signed copy of the new constitution of Tunisia and several books on Tunisian history, politics and revolution to the Duke University Libraries.

Tommy Sowers, assistant secretary for public and intergovernmental affairs at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, will join the faculty of Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy this summer. Sowers has received a one-year appointment as a visiting assistant professor of the practice and assistant director of the school’s Hart Leadership Program.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno will discuss national security and military affairs Friday, April 11, at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy. The talk takes place at 11:30 a.m. in Sanford 04 and is free and open to the public. Parking is available in Science Drive lot and Bryan Center parking deck.

Several Sanford faculty members have received recognition for their work this spring.

Within the university, Trinity College of Arts and Sciences recognizes instructors for high quality of teaching in undergraduate courses. For the fall 2013 semester, five Sanford faculty were among the top 5 percent of all undergraduate instructors in the categories of “quality of course” or “intellectual stimulation.” They are Catherine Admay, Elizabeth Ananat, Evan Charney, Kip Frey and David Schanzer.

“Cities are where things get done in America,” according to San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro. He spoke Tuesday at Sanford School of Public Policy about his path to political leadership, his career in public service and his vision for the city as the fourth speaker in the Hart Leadership Program’s Connect2Politics series. The series focuses on the contributions being made by young politicians.

Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway PPS ’91 will speak at the Sanford School on Wednesday, April 2. His talk, “Civil Rights in the 21st Century: Law and Social Change,” will be in the Rhodes Conference Room at 4:30 p.m.

A conference April 3-5 at Duke University will compare the experiences of African Americans with those of Dalits, formerly known as untouchables, and other tribal groups in India. The conference, “Subaltern Peoples: Comparative Experience of African Americans, Dalits & Tribals,” takes place all three days in Room 115 of the Friedl Building on the university’s East Campus.

Four Duke graduates arrived in Jordan and Turkey on Feb. 1 as the first participants in the newly created J. Kirk Felsman Program on Children in Adversity. The Felsman Fellows are focused on Syrian refugee girls’ education and are working in urban and refugee camp settings with Save the Children in Amman, Jordan, and a local NGO, YUVA, in Turkey.

Ta-Nehisi Coates was in Paris last summer while the trial of George Zimmerman for the killing of black teenager Trayvon Martin was under way. When the not-guilty verdict was delivered, “I was happy not to be in America at that moment,” said Coates.

Although markets for trading carbon emission credits to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have stalled in U.S. federal policy-making, carbon markets are emerging at the state level and around the world, teaching us more about what does and doesn’t work.

The former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan said it's time for the United States to reduce its presence in the country but added there are important reasons why a small military force will be needed for some time to come.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry will speak on Thursday, March 6, at Duke University about his experiences in Afghanistan and the future of the country following the withdrawal of U.S. troops.

Two Sanford School of Public Policy graduate students made it easy for their peers to get involved with immigration reform on Wednesday with a one-hour campaign they dubbed “Call Congress for a Cookie.”

Maya Ajmera, who founded the nonprofit Global Fund for Children while a graduate student at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy, has been appointed the university’s first social entrepreneur in residence.

Sixteen Muslim-Americans were charged with violent terrorism offenses in 2013, including Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his deceased brother, Tamerlan, according to a new report by the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security affiliated with Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and RTI International.

Four Duke faculty members were ranked among the most influential scholars in the nation’s dialogue on education in a list released by Education Week on Jan. 8. Three Sanford School of Public Policy professors, Helen Ladd, Charles Clotfelter and Jacob Vigdor, were in the top 75 on the list of 200. Peter Arcidiacono, professor of economics, also was included.